Review: LAMENT by Maggie Stiefvater

TITLE: Lament
AUTHOR: Maggie Stiefvater  

AUTHOR WEBSITE:
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
FANTASY ELEMENT: Faeries
PUBLISHED: Flux (October 1, 2008)
MY RATING: 4

FIND ON: Amazon

SYNOPSIS: 

(Via Goodreads) Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. When a mysterious boy enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of nowhere, Deirdre finds herself infatuated. Trouble is, the enigmatic and conflicted Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin—and Deirdre is meant to be his next mark. Deirdre has to decide if Luke's feelings towards her are real, or only a way to lure her deeper into the world of Faerie.

REVIEW: 

I picked up this book because I loved the “Shiver” series so much. (I know, late bloomer!) I find Maggie’s writing to be rather easy-breezy. Some books make my brain hurt with how they DO NOT flow from word to word. But somehow Maggie has a way of writing that flows so well, like the whole book is a song. Yet her stories convey such emotional and physical struggle that I find myself holding my breath. Such a paradox!

Sometimes I don’t mind stories about a bad-boy finding a heart and falling in love. I thought at first it would get corny. But I like Luke. He is mysterious and the fact that he “can’t” say anything about what he is or why he is supposed to kill her. He didn’t flaunt his badness. I like that. He then seems more sincere and torn because he can’t put her at ease—even though he really wants to.

Deirdre is an interesting character with whom I can relate. (I am also an introvert.) Usually stories are written around strong, confident, butt-kickin’ teen girls who do what they want and get away with stupidity throughout their story. But this one is introverted, nervous, paranoid and kind of a chicken. I love her! She did what I would do… minus the massive amounts of vomit.

RATING: 

I like this story about a girl who is being hunted by faeries. I had expected a certain level of predictability, but it was not (for me, anyway.) I rate this book at a 4 - A very good read. I love investing my time into stories and characters that are worth the time. This one is. I’m eager to move on to the next book: BALLAD. Maggie Stievfater remains on my fav author list!

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

This is a great read for early to late teens. There is the threat of violence throughout but only PG violence and PG romance. Good clean story. Love it. (Maybe one or two bad words.)

SERIES REVIEWS: 

Books of Faerie 1: Lament

Books of Faerie 2: Ballad

OTHER BOOKS BY MAGGIE:

The Wolves of Mercy Falls (Shiver Series):

Shiver
Linger
Forever

The Scorpio Races